Tarball clean-up

Getty Images

A worker cleans tarballs from the BP oil spill on Waveland beach in Waveland, Mississippi. Nearly eight months after the spill, tarballs are still washing up on the beach. BP lawyers said that government estimates of the size of the oil spill are too large in a dispute that will mark how many billions of dollars in fines the oil giant will have to pay.

A worker cleans tarballs from the BP oil spill on Waveland beach in Waveland, Mississippi. Nearly eight months after the spill, tarballs are still washing up on the beach. BP lawyers said that government estimates of the size of the oil spill are too large in a dispute that will mark how many billions of dollars in fines the oil giant will have to pay. (Getty Images)

A worker cleans tarballs from the BP oil spill on Waveland beach in Waveland, Mississippi. Nearly eight months after the spill, tarballs are still washing up on the beach. BP lawyers said that government estimates of the size of the oil spill are too large in a dispute that will mark how many billions of dollars in fines the oil giant will have to pay.